The present invention relates to sporting goods and more particularly, relates to a braking system for in-line roller skates.
In recent years, the use of in-line roller skates has proliferated and with their common usage, problems have been encountered. One major problem is the inadequacy of a braking system which in turn has led to accidents and injuries and in some municipalities, the use of the roller skates has been banned for safety reasons. Thus, the skates are used on the streets, sidewalks and bicycle paths and due to the free wheeling nature of the skates, even experienced skaters have difficulties avoiding unexpected obstacles.
The problem of braking of in-line roller skates has been recognized in the art and many different proposals for braking systems have been advanced. To date, the braking system in common use is a brake pad that is mounted on either the heel or toe of the skate and is dragged across the skating surface to enable direct frictional engagement between the pad and the skating surface. As will be appreciated, this system requires that the skater has good balance since the skater must tip the skate while in motion. In addition, since one requires frictional engagement between the pad and skating surface, there will be a variable rate of braking depending upon the particular surface involved. Still further, the skater can utilize the braking power of only a single skate at any one time thus again limiting the rate at which braking occurs. Still further, the amount of pressure which can be put on the brake pad is limited, either for a front brake pad arrangement brake pad or a heel brake pad arrangement.
It has also been proposed that one may have a mechanism which exerts a constant rolling resistance to the skate. Such devices are usually adjustable but are not suitable for the average skater who wants to achieve maximum speed with minimum effort while still having a braking capability.
There have also been proposals in the art for mechanical type brakes which have included various cable designs to ones using foot pressures on various locations to activate brakes. Thus, it has been proposed that the skater push downwardly with the heel (U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,231) to cause a boot rotation with respect to the frame of the skate and thereby transmit the force to brake shoes or pads. It has also been proposed in the art in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,387 to provide for a braking system wherein the skater's toes are used in a curled position to activate a braking system. Naturally, in all systems which are activated by the foot of the skater, one must be cautious that the brakes would not be activated during normal skating maneuvers while still permitting the skater to brake on a moments notice.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a braking system for an in-line type of roller skate.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an in-line roller skate braking system which operates on one or more of the wheels of the skate.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a braking system for an in-line roller skate which can be operated on both skates at the same time.